Winemaker Notes
The wine’s bouquet is complex with citrus, tropical fruit, minerality, and warm spice. On the palate are delightful notes of apple, hazelnut, honeysuckle, and quince with hints of brioche, vanilla, and bright fruit with a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2021 7Cellars Reserve Chardonnay is intricate, well-built, and substantive. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of ripe peaches, savory spices, and oak. Pair it with pan-fried Petrale sole in a savory cream sauce. (Tasted: November 28, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.